Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward the implementation timing of policy proposals to strengthen controls on waste-carrier registration; and what steps is his department currently taking to prevent unregulated operators entering the waste sector and engaging in illegal dumping.

Work has begun to draft the necessary legislative amendments for reform of the carriers, brokers, dealers regime and these will be progressed as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Our planned reforms to the waste carriers, brokers and dealers regime and the waste permit exemptions regime will make it harder for rogue operators to find work in the sector and easier for regulators to take action against criminals. Our planned digital waste tracking reforms will make it harder than ever to mis-identify waste or dispose of it inappropriately. In addition, the Environment Agency’s total budget for 2025 to 2026 has increased and includes £15.6m for waste crime enforcement.  This is a more than 50% increase from 2024/25. Overall, the EA has been able to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams across England by 43 full-time staff.